08 February 2007

So I've stolen this idea from the Onion. Five songs from my iPod, set to shuffle. No cheating. The first five that show up, no matter how embarassing.

1. Nick Drake, "The Thoughts of Mary Jane," Five Leaves Left (1969)-- Not bad for the first one. Big fan of Drake's stuff. He dies the post ironic of deaths. An overdose of anti-depressants. He was 26. Drake left behind some of the best pop music from all time. I almost wrote down 'folk,' but when I think of folk music, I think of one person with a guitar. Drake's music is frequently backed up by strings, almost MOR strings, but he somehow makes it work. A giant influence on the indie pop scene.

2. Lemon Jelly, "Homage to Pantagonia," The Yellow EP (1999)-- I don't know much about Lemon Jelly. They seem to make the kind of music that you hear in the background of sushi restaurants, but of that genre, they aren't too bad. My friend Dan is a fan, and gave me some of their music. I like this song in particular because it vaguely reminds me of 60's cocktail music and Bond films.

3. Big Star, "Femme Fatale," Third/Sister Lovers (1975)-- A great cover of the Velvet Underground song by one of my favorite bands. Big Star (if you don't know) was one of the innovators of power pop, taking rock music and fusing it with Beatles-inspired pop. Replacement fans take note: Not only is Big Star one of their major influences, but the song "Alex Chilton" is about their lead singer.

4. Laibach, "Long and Winding Road," Let It Be (1988)-- Another cover song. Laibach has been the inspiration for each of my cover song shows on Chicago Radio 1. They are a Slovenian art collective that takes Western pop music and recasts it as fascist industrial music. They took the entire Beatles' "Let It Be" album and did this to it. I've got all sorts of crazy covers from them. They took "Long and Winding Road" and turned it into some stomping military sounding song. Weird.

5. Mobius Band, "City vs Country," City Vs Country (2005)-- Haven't listened to this in a while. A great EP from a band that I know absolutely nothing about. Sort of like an electronicy indie pop group, although this song is light on the electronics. Worth checking out if you like the Postal Service.